I remember, back in my college years, sitting in a class called "Christian Doctrines." We were in the middle of a fairly complex lecture on Christology. Also in the class was a young man named Jason, who always had a smile on his face and a heart for serving God. But as we discussed complex issues like kenotic theories and the nature of eternal covenants, at one point the material became too much for poor Jason. He raised his hand and asked, "Why can't we just forget about all this theology and just love Jesus?" He said it partly in jest, but in my mind I could hear a lot of Christians asking the same question. Does it really matter whether Jesus is coming back, if not in our lifetime, or whether Jesus was always God, or what the work of the Holy Spirit is? It's a lot easier to hear sermons on raising children, managing money, and living a peaceful and productive life. We like relevance, and I would agree that the Bible does address those topics. But the essence of the Bible is that it is God's revelation of Himself to us, and I would expect that those of us who love Him will want to know as much about Him as possible.
Tonight's text is from Colossians, one of the most theologically packed books in the Bible. This is because the Colossian church was dealing with a crisis that was theological in nature. There seemed to be some question as to who Jesus was.
Before we go into our text in depth, let us look at what kind of people Paul was addressing. First of all, we see that Paul is writing to a very loving church. Notice verses three and four: "We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying about you, since hearing of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones," and again in verse eight, "who also made evident to us your love in the Spirit." While Paul is concerned that the church be doctrinally sound, a good theology is not enough. A church must be "united in love" (2:2).
But this church also had its problems. Listen to the warnings Paul gives throughout the letter: "I am saying this so that no one might delude you with persuasive words." "See that no one carries you away through philosophy and empty deception." "Do not let anyone judge you in food and in drink." "Let no one disqualify you of your prize by self-serving humility and religious worship of angels." This was a church under assault from false teachings. It seems that many were combining the principles of the world with the appearance of religiosity and calling it Christianity. Combine a list of "dos and don'ts" with some spiritual-sounding ideas, and you're sure to attract a following. This was a church at the center of a spiritual battle whose stakes were the constancy of their faith in Christ. Is this not the very same thing we see happening today? How many churches, in their attempts to appear loving and accepting, have traded away their faithfulness to the teachings of Scripture in exchange for a positive glance from the world?
Well, the church at Colosse was holding its own, and Paul had no desire to see that change. Beginning in verse nine, he offers a prayer that the Colossians might "be filled with full knowledge of [God's] will in all wisdom and spiritual comprehension," but also "to walk around worthily of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way, in everything bearing fruit and growing in full knowledge of God." He further prayed that the might of God would empower them and give them endurance and patience. And along with these requests, Paul also gives thanks to God the Father for the work that He accomplished through His Son. It is in this context that we find one of the most fascinating passages on the nature of Christ.
In verse 13, Paul thanks the Father for bringing us from the authority of darkness to "the kingdom of the Son of His love." We speak so often of God's love for us, and our love for God, but consider here God's love for Jesus. Lest we think even for one minute that Jesus was merely an instrument by which God achieved our salvation, Paul stresses from the very beginning the love that exists between these two Persons of the Trinity. It was not the Son alone who made a sacrifice so that we could be saved. His Father was sacrificing, too. I believe that it pained the Father to allow Jesus to be crucified, to pour out His wrath on His only Son–that our salvation cost God more than any of us would ever be willing to pay to save the life of another. I think the love that was between the Father and the Son explains why Jesus prayed so much. Some time tonight, read Jesus' prayer in John 17. See the warmth and unity there. And you'll see that Jesus took such great delight in being the Son of God's love, that He wanted His followers to experience it as well.
What follow are a series of statements about this Son of love, each of which highlights the uniqueness of Christ. The first of these is in verse 14: "in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." One of the first words that come to our minds when we think of Jesus is the word Savior. The very heart of the gospel lies in Jesus' atoning work on the cross. Some time ago, I looked through about twenty gospel tracts that were available in a church lobby. They all took different angles: some were aimed at children; others gave testimonies from basketball or football stars; a few were deeply theological; one older tract even began by talking about the Y2K problem. But I was pleased to find that every single one was centered on the fact that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. This is what makes the cross important, this is how Christ bought us; this is how our salvation was obtained for us. We must never let go of this most essential truth, even though we see so many churches already abandoning it. Our salvation is nothing less than the forgiveness of our sins, and that is accomplished through Christ alone.
As Paul moves on, we see that Jesus is more even than Savior. He is "the image of the invisible God." John introduces his Gospel by saying that no one has ever seen God. The eternal Trinity in all its glory is not contained in this universe, and no one could ever survive such an encounter. God is so far above us that we would never know Him except that He chose to make Himself known. And His clearest revelation is in His Son. As Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," and, "No one comes to the Father except through Me."
Now the text takes us back in time, to the very creation, before Mary and Joseph or even Adam and Eve. Jesus is "the firstborn over every creation." In biblical times, the firstborn son had an almost fatherly relationship with His younger siblings, as he cared for and provided for them. In this sense Jesus is our older brother, both of us identifying with God as Father, but Jesus does so on a much higher and closer level. (And being a firstborn son myself, I take a certain delight in this concept.)
But why, you might ask, is Jesus the firstborn? Is He simply the "older" brother, having been created before us? The Bible answers that question immediately: No. Why is He the firstborn over every creation? "Because by Him were created all things in the heavens and on earth." Ah. Now we have Christ as the Creator. John also tells us this in his own Gospel. Not only our salvation, not only our knowledge of God, but the existence of the entire physical universe owes itself to the work of Christ! How can we possibly place Christ alongside the likes of Socrates, Moses, Aristotle, Gandhi, or any other wise men in history? How many universes did they create? Obviously, Paul is not thinking of Jesus as a divinely chosen or blessed man, but as God Himself.
Paul continues this vastly abbreviated creation account with the words, "visible and invisible." Scientists tell us that nearly a third of the universe is made up of "dark matter"–spaceborne material that either does not radiate light or else interacts too weakly with it for us to detect it. We can only measure it indirectly, and yet this invisible matter is necessary to hold galaxies together. There is much in our world that is too small, too quick, or too distant for us to observe. But Christ has an intimate knowledge of it all because He made it all.
Christ also created the powers that be, "whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities." Most interpreters believe the text is referring to spiritual powers here. Even the realm of angels and demons has Jesus as its Creator. But whether spiritual or political, all rulers are powerless before Him, and they owe Him both their authority and their existence.
Verse 16 concludes that "all things have been created through Him and for Him." There is a misconception out there in the world that Christians believe the world was created for man's benefit. Why so many planets and stars that we'll never reach, if this is all for us? Why is Earth not at the center of our universe, our galaxy, or even our solar system? Why is the world so wild, so resistant, if this is all for us? The answer is that it's not all for us. It exists in order to bring glory to Jesus. And bring glory it does. How many times has an astronomer, or a farmer, or a psychologist, or a doctor, or a young child, found his thoughts turning to God in response to the wonders of the creation? It's been said that the saddest moment for an atheist is when he finds himself overwhelmed with gratitude for the wonders of life and the world, and has no one to thank. We know whom to thank.
Verse 17: "And He is before all things." In the Greek, the He is emphatic. However wonderful the creation is, Jesus Himself is still far superior. Now it may seem to you that Paul is just rambling here, making one theological claim after another, jumping from doctrine to doctrine. Well, it's true that he's not laying things out systematically. But everything Paul says in tonight's passage can be summed up in this statement in verse 17, "He is before all things." If you hear nothing else tonight, hear this. No other person, object, or idea can claim the high place occupied by Jesus. There is simply no competition.
"And in Him all things hold together." A great deal of scientific study is done to answer the question of what holds things together. Aristotle thought it was the natural movement of objects toward the center of the Earth that held the universe together. That which holds our solar system together we call gravity. What holds a raindrop together is cohesion. What holds an atom together we call electromagnetic force. For a long time, scientists were puzzled at what held the nucleus of an atom together. After all, the nucleus is composed of protons, all with a positive charge; and as we all learned in science class, like charges repel. After years of searching, they finally found a tiny particle that counteracted the repellent force and glued those protons to one another. And for lack of a better term, they called it a gluon! Well, I don't know if Jesus would have called it a gluon, but the particle was His idea. We can all be thankful that Jesus did not simply create this universe and then retire. He is still holding it together. And this activity extends beyond the physical. Jesus also holds our lives together when they start to fall apart. He holds relationships together, and He holds the church together. Truly, "in Him all things hold together."
Speaking of the church, Christ is also its head in verse 18. Today our churches are scattered among dozens of denominations. They have structured themselves and allied themselves in many ways, but at the head of every true church is Jesus Christ. Sometimes we forget that and think that the final decision rests with a bishop, or a Director of Missions, or an elder, or the pastor, or the deacons, or with a vote by the congregation. But our church's policies, activities, and teachings must be in accord with the directions of Christ, as we have them in the Scriptures.
Now Paul takes us forward, into the future: "Who is the beginning, firstborn from the dead." Paul spends a whole chapter on this elsewhere, in 1 Corinthians 15. Jesus was the first to be eternally raised from the dead, and with His resurrection begins the resurrection of all His people in the day of the Lord. We do not merely await the resurrection: It has already started with Jesus and is "on pause" until His return. And because that promise is already in the midst of fulfillment, we have great cause to rejoice.
"In order to become first in everything": Christ's return will end the time of fallen men ruling over the earth. No longer will we have to wonder why God is moving history in a certain direction or where God is in this situation or that. Today, it often seems like things are out of control. Whole new theologies claim that God made a miscalculation or has been taken by surprise. But even now we do not worship a God who risks, but a God who rules infallibly. All things will be brought, physically and visibly, under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The prophecies about the Messiah sitting on David's throne, shepherding His people, and having the government on His shoulders will all be fulfilled. Even His enemies will bow and acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and that He was right all along. Jesus will be the undisputed ruler of the universe.
Paul says that all these threads are woven into God's plan: "because it was [the Father's] good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to completely reconcile all things to Himself." You see, he uses the word reconcile because there was once a time when there was no opposition to Christ. But with the Fall came a hostility that drove all of us to resist Him. We were not merely ignorant of God or indifferent; we were enemies. But Christ changed that "by making peace through the blood of His cross." Not just making peace possible, but making peace. Once again, it all ties back to Christ's sacrifice. It's not just about us gaining admission into heaven or escaping eternal punishment. Because of the cross, we become His people, a holy people, reconciled to God to such an extent that He now calls us friends. And this plan extends to include all creation; as we see in verse 20, the reconciliation is "through Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven."
Paul repeats and expands on this idea in the next verses: "And even though you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, in evil deeds, yet He has now completely reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." How great a righteousness Christ must have, to be able to present us before God, as sinful as we are, as holy and blameless and beyond reproach! Our own works could never begin to accomplish this, though we live out that righteousness more and more as we become more like Christ. But it is "dressed in His righteousness alone" that we stand "faultless...before the throne."
However, notice the qualification in verse 23. Not everyone stands righteous in God's sight. We can only apply that truth to ourselves with confidence if we "continue in faith, firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the good news that you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, was made a minister." We see a similar warning in 2 John verse 9: "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God." Do you see here how crucial it is to hold onto what the Scriptures teach us about Christ? How honestly can we say that we are "founded and steady and not moved away from the hope of the gospel"?
I believe this church as a whole is firmly grounded in the truth, and it pleases me to see a church where the Bible is believed and preached. But let's deal with this on an individual level. According to this passage, and others like it, one of the signs that you are a true Christian is that you know and believe what the Bible proclaims about Christ and the gospel. There are a number of voices out there today giving false proclamations about Christ. You encounter them in your classrooms, on television, at your front door, and even in Christian bookstores. These voices will present their teachings as real and their "non-traditional" approaches as growing in faith. They may even say we should update how we talk about the cross in order to win more people in today's postmodern culture. But the question is, do their claims match what the Bible says? Do you know your Bible well enough to answer?
If not, then let this be a call to return to your Bible and see the picture it paints of Christ. Do away with ancient preconceptions and contemporary philosophizing and anything else that clouds your perception of Jesus. Colossians is a good place to start. Just in these last few verses we've established a number of facts that cannot be refuted: Jesus is the only Savior; Jesus is God from the beginning; Jesus is Creator and Preserver; all things were created through Him and for Him; He rules the church and will soon rule the world; Through Jesus we have redemption, reconciliation, righteousness, and resurrection. By these characteristics Christ is absolutely unique and infinitely superior to any thing or idea the world has to offer.
For a concise statement of my beliefs about Jesus Christ, see my Declaration of Faith.
